Baldur's Gate 3 - Will be in Early Access

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BellofLostSouls reports that Baldur's Gate 3 will be available in Early Access. This was discovered during a Hasbro held investor event at the New York Toy Fair where Wizard's of the Coast unveiled their digital plans for D&D for the next five years.

Specifically there are 7 games in development: Baldur's Gate 3 and Dark Alliance are the two that have already been announced, but according to Hasbro, we should be seeing at least one new D&D video game every year from now until 2025. And while there was no mention of the newly opened Archetype Entertainment, the WotC owned game studio working on its own sci-fi project, it was revealed that Baldur's Gate 3 is scheduled for Early Access later this year, so players will be stepping into the world of mind flayers and Minsc a lot sooner than you might have thought.

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Didn't see this one coming so soon. Will personally stay clear to avoid spoilers but will be very interested in hearing what the atmosphere and mechanics are like.
 
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I take this as bad news. Early Access is a cancer of the modern game industry that needs to be eradicated.
 
Suits me fine, look how Divinity 2 turned out. I will defiantly support in AC but will not touch it until complete.
 
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I just hope they'll add a more or less finished character generation in the EA. That's the only thing I'd touch before the actual release.
 
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I generally don't like to play Early Access games, because they're usually incomplete, unbalanced, buggy, etc. And takes out the novelty factor when the final release arrives.

But if the game is really good, at least that novelty factor won't be that spoiled. A successful EA game for me is the DOS and DOS2, which I played the EAs and then the final versions. Although with months separating both gameplays (to the point that the final version I've played were the definitive editions, even more complete, balanced and optimized).

That means, a longer wait: EA -> 1.0 release -> Enhanced Edition.

Since Larian Studios have a good track record, I'll try the game in EA. Unless it's not turn-based. Then I'll skip it and wait for final release to check out if it's worth it, but in my case, I doubt it. I really dislike RTwP games. Couldn't finish the original game, couldm't get far before I got bored with combat in Pillars 1 and 2 and other similar games.
 
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This is going to be streamed. Streamers might even get early keys.
 
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I'll just replay BG 1 and 2 while some brave souls are beta testing this one.
 
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I’ll give it a go in EA. While I’m sure they’re plenty examples of poor EA execution I had quite a positive experience with blackguard in EA.

I’m more concerned with how fast they seem to be putting the game together but I guess I don’t know what state the game will hit EA in or how long it will stay in EA.
 
Mhm. I might do it for Mount and Blade (no worrying about spoilers at least), but certainly no early access for a game like Baldur's Gate 3.

But yeah, I'm also surprised about this being far enough along to "go public".
 
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Which ruleset are they using by the way? 5e?
 
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I refuse to do betatesting of any kind. No time for that. But I do want my games to be polished.
Means, I have no objection to early access form as means to get some serious feedback.

Of course, I'll stay away till the game gets a full release.
You might be evil and suggest me to wait for Beamdog's port2phones cashgrab. :)
 
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I have no problem alpha testing software ... I have no problem beta testing software. Including games. But I always want it to be specifically what I am doing, not getting ‘early access’ to an unfinished product.

I like games that ‘launch’ - even if it is a bit messy.

But that is me - I don’t care so much, but will wait until it is ‘released from early access’.
 
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Isn't early access usually a sign of financial difficulties?

Since Larian did EA with both of their Original Sin games, I don't think so. I think its their way of getting free testers and giving their finished games more polish. Any why not? There seem to be plenty of people willing to pay to test their games for them.
 
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I think it's safe to say that a developer that doesn't do EA is finacially stable. That's not true the other way round in general.
 
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